Kali Reis displaying her skills in the boxing ring and on the screen
Kali Reis tries to add the IBO super lightweight title to her collection on Aug. 20 against Diana Prazak. Reis is a star in the ring and on film.
Kali Reis is a proven quantity as a boxer. She’s the WBA super-lightweight champion and fights Diana Prazak on Aug. 20, which could add the IBO belt around her waist. She’s a 13-year boxing veteran who’s also an emerging talent on the acting scene.
Reis has fought in several divisions throughout her career, but at 34 years old, she’s hit her pinnacle in the sport as a super lightweight. She credits her success at the lower weight to a knowledgeable team and the gift of added wisdom over the years.
“Most of my career, I didn’t have any kind of coach or management or promotion, so I was getting the calls at 160, and I was taking the fights,” Reis told FanSided. “I usually walk around 150, a little bit higher, but I felt really comfortable at like 151-152. So once I kind of got with, you know, the correct team, it was more advisable and kind of more smart as far as the game plan.”
Reis is riding a four-fight winning streak and could see herself as a reigning champion in multiple divisions.
“I see myself running two different weight classes,” said FanSided. “I feel really comfortable at 47, completely comfortable 47 and 140. I’m here, and I’m comfortable. Right now, I’m here, and I have the opportunity to unify this weight class and kind of dominate this weight class.”
It’s an exciting time for Reis in the ring, but she has another passion that’s also catching fire–acting. Reis recently made her acting debut as the lead in the film Catch the Fair One. Originally, Reis didn’t intend on becoming an actor, but social media led director Josef Kubota Wladyka to Reis.
“He [Wladyka] followed me on social media and on Instagram,” recalled Reis. “So we kind of joke about he slid into my dm’s, just to kind of ask me, you know, ‘hey, I have this script. I am a director. I do this. I have this idea. And have you ever thought about acting?'”
Boxer Kali Reis takes center stage in the film Catch the Fair one
Reis’s Native American heritage and boxing physicality made her a perfect fit for the film, which focuses on Kaylee, an undercover cop trying to stop human trafficking. Reis was presented an initial script, but when Reis came on board, she and Wladyka worked to reform, reshape, and rewrite the story.
“So Josef had a script, and it was called something completely different,” stated Reis.
“So after he [Wladyka] met me, he actually drove up to Rhode Island from New York. And he just got to know me and got to know my story. So the more and more he kind of got my perspective on just being an indigenous mixed woman from the Northeast woodland tribes, which doesn’t get representation and film or anything or any mainstream media. He loved my perspective, and he just wanted to know more about my story.”
Reis was vital in the writing of the script and has a writing credit on the film.
Even though Reis never trained as an actor, she had a natural calling and talent for acting. She used her personal experiences, pain, and trauma to fuel her character’s emotions in the film.
“I had the luxury of helping to build his character, but it was just kind of really basing my character around my own experiences, as far as the stories I’ve heard, from people experiencing missing loved ones,” said Reis.
Reis lost her older brother to cancer in 2017, and she used that loss as an emotional base for her character. Her family and Native American heritage also played a large part in her portrayal of Kaylee.
“So, in a sense, I kind of owned it in my own family to kind of wrap it around the feelings of the indigenous community as a whole missing the loved ones,” said Reis. “You know, it was kind of a cathartic type of process.”
Reis is receiving high praise for her portrayal in Catch the Fair One, which IFC Films purchased. This was Reis’s first movie venture, but she plans to dive into more acting projects in the near future.
“We already have aspirations of getting into more projects,” said Reis enthusiastically. “As far as creating and writing, me and Josef definitely want to write something together again.”
Reis is a remarkable person that’s much more than her brawn and fists. She’s an artist in and out of the ring and will mesmerize audiences with her multifaceted capabilities.
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